Would You Buy a Klosterman Essay for 99 Cents?

In something of a business experiment, Scribner publishing has put 69 Chuck Klosterman essays on iTunes
for sale at 99 cents each. The essays, which are all previously published work, will test whether fans and readers will pay for single servings of big-name writers. No one knows how the experiment will go, or who will decide to
download say, nine essays for $9.00, instead of simply buying one of
Klosterman's books for $10 or $11.

Who's the Audience? and "Will well-loved essays sell better than those that are less known?" wonders
Carolyn Kellogg at The Los Angeles Times. "It's interesting to see a
big publisher trying new models in ebooks -- or rather, e-essays.
They're one of the literary products that can be sold piecemeal. Will
they find receptive buyers? And if they do, how will we know -- will
Amazon.com or Apple launch an e-essay bestseller list?

Plenty Of Other Experiments Harper Collins, The Penguin Group, The Atlantic,
and literary magazine One Story have all dabbled in this sort of
piecemeal sales, reports
The New York Time's Julie Bosman. "Scribner is hoping that consumers
who have become accustomed to buying songs individually might do the
same for stand-alone literary."

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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